Ranking & Allocating

An LEA must annually rank all of its school attendance areas according to their percent of poverty. (See example below)

Priority A – without regard to grade spans, rank school attendance areas with low-income percentage greater than 75 percent from highest to lowest. Note: The district may choose to lower this the threshold to 50 percent for high schools served by the LEA.

Priority B – with remaining funds, the district may rank remaining eligible school attendance areas from highest to lowest either by grade span or by district average. Please read through the law and non-regulatory guidance on this page to gain a full understanding of the requirements of this section.

LEA Identification and Selection of Schools and Allocation of Title I Funds to Those Schools
Non-Regulatory Guidance

Ranking and allocating rules do not apply to LEAs with a total enrollment of less than $1,000.

LEA may designate buildings with 35 percent low-income children as eligible.

If a building with less than 35 percent low-income is served, ALL buildings
must be served according to the 125% rule.

Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)

If your district has approved
Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) schools, please ensure you gain an understanding about how this affects your ranking and allocation for Title I purposes.

Set-Asides

Required Set-Asides

Parent and Family Engagement (PFE)
One percent is required if your district has an allocation of $500,000 or more. Calculate your PFE set-aside by taking 1 percent of your total allocation. Of that 1 percent, no less than 90
percent must go to Title I buildings. The remaining 10 percent (or less) may remain at the district level.

Homelessness and Title I, Part A
Each LEA is required to complete Homeless Student Needs Assessment to determine the Title I, Part A set-aside amount for homeless children and youth.Note: the Homeless Needs Assessment will also be collected as a part of the Title I, Part A Application (FP 201).

These resources provide ideas for ways you can support your homeless students:

Private Schools
LEAs with participating private schools are required to set aside a proportional share of funds “off the top” of their Title I, Part A allocation. LEAs will need to complete the new planning tool to answer private school questions.

Optional Set-Asides

Early Learning
Use this set-aside for district-wide early learning activities. Whether in the entire LEA or just a portion of the LEA, there are a number of early learning activities that can be funded with Title I, Part A dollars. Use the following resources to help determine how to use an early learning set-aside:

Maintenance of Effort

School districts must ensure that state and/or local funding spent on programs is consistent between years. The amount of Federal funding received for a program should not lead to a decline in the amount of state and/or local funding for the same program. For additional information, view the 2014 WASBO MOE Training

Comparability

As a condition of receiving Title I, Part A, LEAs must ensure that state and local funds are used to provide services that taken as a whole, are comparable between Title I, Part A and non-Title I, Part A schools. LEAs use October enrollment data to conduct the annual comparability analysis. LEAs need to make appropriate adjustments to staffing in Title I, Part A and Non-Title I, Part A schools if the analysis demonstrates an issue with comparability.

Note about exclusions: Preschool staffing and students must be excluded from comparability analysis. The LEA may choose to exclude the following: State-funded LAP, state-funded special education and state-funded LEP/bilingual educational staff.

Combining Funds

Schoolwide programs are intended to provide flexibility for serving students in eligible school buildings by combining certain federal, state, and local revenues to more effectively address the needs of all academically struggling students.

School districts may only operate schoolwide programs in Title I, Part A buildings that have been identified in the district Title I, Part A iGrants application. Schools in which at least 40 percent of the students are from low income families may combine Title I, Part A with certain other federal, state, and local funds in order to improve academic performance of all students, particularly the lowest achieving students. For additional information, view Bulletin B054-12.

Carryover

School Districts with $50,000 or Higher Allocation
There is a maximum 15 percent carryover of Title I, Part A funds from one year to the next (not including carryover from the prior year) for school districts with an allocation of $50,000 or more. Carryover in excess of 15% is permitted not more than once every three years; this process requires a waiver via Form Package 200.

Carryover funds that have a specific purpose required by law—such as the 1 percent set-aside for parental and family engagement—must still be spent on the original purpose.

School Districts with Less than $50,000 Allocation
For school districts with an allocation of less than $50,000, there is no restriction to the maximum amount of available carryover funds.

Time & Effort

All employees charged to federal grants must document the time they spend working on the grant’s objectives to demonstrate that the amounts charged to federal programs are true and accurate. For additional resources, view:

Records from a federal grant must be retained for five years, plus the current year, for a total of six years. If a district has a pending audit, the records must be retained until the audit is settled.

The Secretary of State (SOS) has a guide to scan/image record retention requirements for compliance with state law. SOS also has a calendar of trainings that district personnel may find helpful. For more information on these and other resources for record retention, go to the SOS website.